Proposed adjustments will address $650,000 deficit
By Melissa Fales
Ware River News reporter
WARE – At their Aug. 14 meeting, members of the School Committee reviewed the causes of a $650,069 budget deficit for fiscal year 2014 and approved proposed adjustments to bring the budget into balance.
School Business Consultant Andy Paquette said the factors contributing to the deficit occurred after the Annual Town Meeting in May as fy2013 closed out. Dr. Mary-Elizabeth Beach, Superintendent, called the deficit “a late-season surprise.”
Paquette said the biggest factor in the deficit was the lack of funds carried over from fy2013. “In the past we’ve had monies left at the end of the year,” he said, noting that the $153,508 expected to be carried over was not available.
Additional Special Education tuition projected expenses total over $151,401. Paquette explained that the budget includes all known Special Education tuition needs but has no contingency fund. Beach added that Special Education tuition expenses can change at any time should a Special Education student enroll in the district.
A lower than projected circuit breaker reimbursement totals almost $100,000. Five new-to-the-district students with Individualized Education Plans requiring paraprofessionals will cost approximately $95,000.
According to Paquette, projected School Choice revenues are down by approximately $52,500 and revised projections for certain revolving accounts, including Early Childhood and Building Use, are lower than expected by approximately $27,500. Early Education local support will be $25,000 less than anticipated.
Finally, due to federal government sequestering, the district is looking at a between eight and 12 percent reduction in federal grants, totaling $45,000.
Paquette outlined the 15 adjustments being made in order to balance the budget. The bulk of the money, $162,412, will come from restructuring the Structured Learning Center at Ware Middle School. Beach explained that an outside agency, the Center School, will no longer run the program. “We’re running it ourselves,” she said, noting that an additional paraprofessional will be added to the staff.
Paquette anticipates that the district will be able to recoup $76,971 in Special Education tuition however he reiterated that this number can change at any time if students require out-of-district placements.
Additionally, the revised budget includes reductions totaling $30,000 in maintenance, $16,000 in technology, a total of $15,000 in supplies and advertising from the superintendent’s office and supplies at Stanley M. Koziol Elementary School and WMS, and the elimination of a proposed $37,000 deportment position at Ware Junior Senior High School.
Two paraprofessional positions at SMK will be eliminated for a gain of $35,000. Beach called this cut “really tough,” noting that she had to rescind offers she had previously extended.
An unfilled teaching position at SMK, a 5th grade teaching position emptied by a transfer, and an open 8th grade Special Education job will remain vacant, totaling approximately $160,000. The revised budget also includes $29,000 in projected electricity savings.
Paquette said the district will receive an additional $70,748 from the town due to more money than anticipated coming in from the state.
The committee approved the balanced budget as revised with the necessary reductions. Paquette suggested the district could still request more money from the town. “There’s nothing stopping us from going to the town for the fall town meeting and asking for additional support,” he said.
Beach noted that the administration has tried to keep the teachers’ union abreast of the latest changes during this latest round of budget discussions. “I know it causes people angst,” she said, adding that the reductions were particularly unsettling because they are coming so late in the year and on the heels of more significant cuts made before the close of fy13.
Beach thanked the district’s teachers for their support, acknowledging the approximately dozen teachers in attendance. “We think this is the very best we can do,” she said. “We believe we’ve been open and transparent and done the best we can to keep the cuts as far away from the children as possible.”
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